Production of kinked carpet yarn



Aug; 15, 1961 c. w. BROWN ETAL 2,995,802

PRODUCTION OF KINKED CARPET YARN Filed June 18, 1959 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 nfares C Braac/z.

ATTORNEYS,

Aug. 1961 cfw. BROWN ETAL 2,995,802

PRODUCTION OF KINKED CARPET YARN Filed June 18, 1959 5 Sheets-Sheet 2104 Fir/1 4',

INVENTORS 4 MAB/own, I l/a/fer H, Cram 0'81 n fares, C. Broad" ATTORNEYSAug. 15, 1961 c. w. BROWN ET AL 2,995,302

PRODUCTION OF KINKED CARPET YARN Filed June 18, 1959 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 UU m4 76 [N y 5N7 0R5, Clyde e Bro wn, BY W i f r H. Crowds! 1961 c. w.BROWN 'ETAL 2,995,802

PRODUCTION OF KINKED CARPET YARN Filed June 18, 1959 5 Sheets-Sheet 4INVENTORS C/qo e l V. Brow/1 Wa/fel' H, Cram Jew Jal Zwaw, F W

ATTORNEYS 1961 c. w. BROWN ETAL 2,995,802

PRODUCTION OF KINKED CARPET YARN Filed June 18, 1959 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 vZNVENTORS. Clyde W. Brown. A l/l/a/fel' hf Cr'bWc/el' a fares HE 066ATTORNEY United States Patent 2,995,802 PRODUCTION OF KINKED CARPETClyde W. Brown, Walter H. Crawler, and Eures C. Broach, Shawmut, Ala,assignors to West Point Manufacturing Company, West Point, Ga., acorporation of Georgia Filed June 18,1959, Ser. No. 821,226 9 Claims.(CI. 2872) .This invention relates to the production of carpet yarn, andin particular to the production of permanently kinked carpet yarn ofsynthetic fibers. A principal object of the invention is the productionof highly and uniformly kinked yarn. Other objects are to provideeilicient, controllable and reproducible procedures'for the productionof kinked carpet yarn of outstanding appearance and physical properties.Further objects will be in part evident and in part pointed outhereinafter;

The invention and the novel aspects thereof will be described inconnection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of an exemplary shaker mechanism,utilized in the present invention to facilitate the relaxation andkinking of'skeins of twisted yarn;

FIGURE 2 is aside elevational view of the shaker FIGURE 5 is aperspective view of the stretching mechanism of FIGURE 42, viewed fromthe front thereof, and showing a skein of yarn. in position to bestretched;

FIGURE 6 is a detail view illustrating the lengthened condition of theyarn skein shown in FIGURE 5, after stretching;

FIGURE 7 is a perspective view of a swift useful for opening up anddisentangling the stretched skeins, to facilitate winding the yarn ontobobbins;

FIGURE 8 is a perspective view of the swift of FIG- URE 7, partlybroken. away, illustrating the swift in collapsed condition, and

FIGURE 9' is a perspective view of the swift, on reduced scale, in opencondition with a skein of kinked yarn ready for unwinding. therefrom.

In accordance with the present process, syntheticfibers may beinitiallycarded and converted into roving on wool cards. By way ofexample, Acrilan fibers of 15' denier and 3 to 4" staple length, ornylon fibers, 6 and 15' denier and 3 to 4" staple length, may beemployed. Acrilan and nylon fibers may be blended, if desired, and aswill be evident, other thermoplastic synthetic fibers of similar ordifferent properties, and blends thereof, may be employed as well. Toeven out bale to bale differ ences in. color and quality, several. balesare customarily blended together prior to carding. by means of. a con--ventional opening system.

The rovingproduced by the wool cards then. goes through the usualspinning process, wherein it is drafted and twisted, and may be doubled.A suitable draft is- I.2. The single endsthus produced may be,:. forexample, 2.75s yarn. with a. twist of 3.75 to 4 turns per inch (cottoncount). Preferably, the ends arethen. piled into a 3-ply .92s yarn witha twist of about 7.2 turns per inch. The twist. is excessive, wherebythe yarn will tend to formv kinks when the tension thereon is released.

The twisted yarn is produced on twisting frames" and woundonto wooden-bobbins,'necessarily under such: tensionthat the twisting stressescannot relieve: themselves",

ice

to produce the desired kinking effect. To relieve the tension,accordingly, the twisted yarnis rewound from the bobbins into skeins.The yarn in skein form relaxessomewhat and formsa few-kinks, but remainssubstantially in the form of a wavy' bundle. It has been foundthatrelaxation and kinking of the yarn at this stage of the-process-canbegreatly promoted by brief but vigorousshaking of. the skeins. Suitablemechanism for this purpose is illustrated in FIGURES 1 and 2 of thedrawings.

Asthere shown, the shaker mechanism includes a base comprising parallelspaced members 2 adapted to rest on the floor of abuilding, joined attheir ends by the angle bars 4 which may be welded or otherwise securedthereto. The flanges of the angle bars 4 may be attached tothe floor bybolts 6, and brackets 8afl'1xed to the sides of the members 2 may besecured to the floor by bolts 10'.

Adjacent an end of each base member 2, a bearing 12 is mounted thereonas by bolts 14, and an oscillating shaft 16 extends between the bearingsand is journalled therein. Midway of the length of shaft '16 a post 18extends: upwardly therefrom, the post supporting two parallel and spacedskein carrying rods 20 and 22, by

means of the horizontal link 24 extending between the end of a shaft 34which is journalled in the bearings 36 mounted on the supports 38, whichin turn rest on one of the base members 2". The other end of shaft 34carries a pulley 40, which is engaged in driving relationship by a belt42 to the electric motor 44'. The connecting rod 30 is provided at itsends with the bearing heads 46 and 48, hearing head 46 being rotatablymounted on a pin 50 projecting laterally from the eccentric 32, andbearing head 48 being similarly mounted on a stub shaft 52 extendingbetween the lugs 54 extending from the post 18. As will be evident, themotor 44 is adapted to drive shaft 34, and through the eccentric 32 andconnecting rod 30 impart a reciprocatory, shaking movement to the shakerframe, the extreme positions of which are illustrated in FIGURE 2.

For the shaking operation, a number of skeins 56 of twisted yarn arepositioned on the rods 20' and 22, enough to loosely fill the lengthsthereof between the stop pins 28. In FIGURE 1 but two skeins are shown,their loose wavy form representing the appearance of the skeins prior toshaking. Motor 44 is then energized, and the skeins subjected to violentshaking for a brief period of time. A shaking frequency of about 450cycles per minute has proved satisfactory in practice, and a period ofabout 18 or 20 seconds is adequate for the purpose of the invention. Theshaking operation effects marked relaxationand of the yarn, the skeinsassuming the highly kin'ked and irregular appearance illustrated inFIGURE 3. In the course of this kinking the skeins draw up to about onehalf their length prior to shaking.

The kinks so obtained in the yarn are not permanent, and if the yarn iscut into short lengths as may occur, for example in. the manufacture ofcut pile tufted carpets, the are prone to straighten out. Accordingly,the are rendered permanent at this stage of the process by heat setting.To heat set nylon yarn, approximately 200 pounds of kinked skeins areloaded into a tumbler basket, and tumbled for a period of 30' minutes,whereby complete relaxation of the yarn is attained. The tumbler basket:isthen inserted into an autoclave, and the skeins subjected to alternatecycles of vacuum and steam pressure, as follows:

(a) Vacuum5 min.28" mercury (b) Steam6 min.-245 F. 26 p.s.i.g (c)Vacuum- /z min.28 mercury (d) Steam6 min.-245 F. 26 p.s.i.g. (e)Vacuum-6 min.-28" mercury Acrilan yarn may be heat set in similarfashion, that is by initial tumbling followed by an alternatingvacuumsteam pressure treatment of the nature described.

In the course of the heat setting operation, the skeins shrink togetherto such degree that they can be opened up for further processing onlywith great difliculty. In accordance with the present invention, theheat set skeins are mechanically stretched in simple and novel manner,to open up the skeins and facilitate further processing. The stretchingoperation, moreover, is found to improve the properties of the yarn.Mechanism suitable for the stretching operation is illustrated inFIGURES 4, 5 and 6 of the drawings.

In FIGURES 4 and 5, 76 represents a base or frame, composed of uprightmembers 78 connected by horizontally disposed side members 80 and afront rack member 82. The uprights 78 at the back of the device extendabove the upper side members 80, and mount between them a shaft 84 whichextends beyond the uprights to form trunnions 86 on which bearings 88are rotatably' mounted. The bearings 88 support a pivotal rack 90,comprising rack arms 92 extending to the front of the machine and havingextensions 4 extending rearwardly of the bearings. I

The front ends of the rack arms '92 are connected by the upper rackmember 100, which is provided with a plurality of appropriately spacedlugs 102 having arms 104 extending upwardly from the outer ends thereof.As clearly shown in FIGURE 5, the lower rack member 82 carries aplurality of similar lugs 102, corresponding in number and spacing tothose on the upper rack memher 100, and provided with similar butdownwardly extending arms 104.

The pivotal rack 90 is illustrated in FIGURE 5 in lowermost position,from which it is adapted to be elevated to the position illustrated inFIGURE 4. For this purpose, an air cylinder 106 is engaged to thepivotal rack 90, and to the frame therebelow; As shown in FIG- URE 4,the piston'rod 108 of the air cylinder 106 may be provided with a forkedconnection 110, which is pivotally connected by a bolt 112 men earll;4extending from the lower side of the cross member 116, which extendsbetween the rearward endsofthe rack arm'extensions 94. The lower end ofthe air cylinder 106 may be provided with a pair of spaced ears 11-8,pivotally connected by the bolt 120 to the bracket 122 appropriatelymounted on the cross member 124 of the frame. Pressure air may beconducted to the air cylinder 106 in the" usual manner, by means offlexible hoses 126'and 128.

With the stretching device in the position illustrated in FIGURE 5, heatset skeins are arranged over corresponding lugs 102 of the upper andlower 'rack members, as illustrated in the figure. When the racks arefilled, the

air cylinder is activated to pivot the rack' 90to the posi{ tionillustrated in FIGURE 4, whereby the skeins are severely stretched in asingle,smooth continuous stroke, extended over approximately 2or'3seconds. While the stretching may be effected stepwise, the proceduredescribed is found to be most efiective. On returning the rack 90 to theposition of FIGURES, theskeins are found to have the appearanceillustrated in FIGURE 6.

The heatset skeins, so stretched, may now be opened and straightened onswifts, and then unwound therefrom onto bobbins in conventional manner.This step Icom pletes the processing of the, yarn, made ready itherebyfor manufacture into carpet. Aswift particularlyadapted :to

4 facilitate the final winding operation is illustrated in FIG- URES 7,8, and 9 of the drawings.

As best shown in FIGURES 7 and 8, the exemplary swift includes a baseplate 130, supporting an upright 132 which is surmounted by a plate 143.Aligned bearings 136 on the plate 134 rotatably mount a shaft 138, whichis provided at one end with a pinion 140 enclosed within housing 142. Onthe other side of the bearings, a collar 144 is rotatable on the shaft138. Four plates 146 extend radially from the collar 144, these platesbeing angularly, spaced 90 apart as shown. 'A spaced pair of arms 148 ispivotally engaged to each plate 146 and extends outwardly therefrom, theouter ends of each-pair of arms being similarly pivotally engaged to andjoined by a skein support 150, in a parallelogram arrangement. The end152 of shaft 138 extending beyond collar 144 is threaded, and acruciform nut 154 is carried thereby and threadedly engaged thereto. Arigid link 156 extends between the nut 154 and each adjacent arm 148,each link being pivotally connected at both ends.

A short distance below the shaft 138 a parallel stub shaft 158 extendsfrom the upright 13-2, the stub shaft mounting a gear 160 having anoperating handle 162 fixedly secured thereto. The gear 160 is freelyrotatable on stub shaft 158 and relatively axially movable thereon aswell, whereby the gear 158 may be readily engaged with and disengagedfrom the pinion 140.

In FIGURE 7 the swift is illustrated in fully opened position, whereinthe nut 154 adjoins the collar 144.

To utilize the swift in the present process it must first be collapsedto the position of FIGURE 8. To accomplish this, the normally disengagedgear 160 is moved into meshing engagement with pinion 140. Whilerestraining the arms 148 and supports 150 from turning, gear 160 isrotated in appropriate direction by means of its handle 162 to rotatethe pinion 140 and shaft 138, and thereby cause the nut 154 to traveloutwardly therealong, the nut being restrained from rotation by thelinks 7 opened by reversing the procedure just described. That is, thegear 160 is rotated in the opposite direction while restraining the arms148' and supports from rotation, the resultant rotation of shaft 138causing the restrained nut 154 to travel inwardly toward the collar 144,the movement of the nut pivoting the arms 148 by means of the links 156,whereby the supports 150 are spread outwardly to the position of FIGURE9, the skein being opened thereby and disentangled. The gear may then bedisengaged from the pinion 140, leaving the swift free to rotate,whereupon the yarn may be unwound therefrom and wound onto bobbins withease and effieiency.

It will thus be seen that there has been provided by this invention amethod in which the various objects hereinbefore set forth, togetherwith many practical advantages, are successfully achieved. As variouspossible embodiments may be made of the novel features of the aboveinvention, all without departing from the scope thereof, it is to beunderstood that all matter hereinbefore set forth is to be interpretedas illustrative, and not in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is: a

1. A process for producing kinked synthetic carpet yarn comprising thesteps of twisting yarn, skeining the twisted yarn, shaking the yarnskeins in an oscillating fashion to facilitate relaxation and kinking ofthe yarn, heat setting the yarn in relaxed and kinked state, stretch- 5ing the heat set yarn, and then winding the yarn onto bobbins.

2. A process for producing kinked synthetic carpet yarn comprising thesteps of twisting yarn, skeining the twisted yarn, shaking in anoscillating fashion the yarn skeins to facilitate relaxation and kinkingof the yarn, heat setting the skeins in relaxed and kinked state,stretching the skeins, and then winding the yarn onto bobbins.

3. A process for producing kinked synthetic carpet yarn comprising thesteps of twisting synthetic fiber yarn, skeining the twisted yarn toreduce the tension thereon and permit kinking, shaking the skeins in anoscillating fashion to facilitate further relaxation and kinking of theyarn, tumbling the skeins to complete relaxation of the yarn, heatsetting the skeins in relaxed and kinked state to make the kinkspermanent, stretching the heat set skeins, and then winding the skeinsonto bobbins.

4. A process as defined in claim 3, wherein said yarn is multiple plyyarn.

5. A process as defined in claim 3, wherein said shaking is efiected asa frequency of about 450 cycles per second, for a period of about 18seconds.

6. A process as defined in claim 3, wherein said skeins are tumbled fora period of about 30 minutes.

7. A process for producing kinked synthetic carpet yarn comprising thesteps of twisting the yarn, skeining the twisted yarn, shaking the yarnskeins to facilitate relaxation and kinking of the yarn, heat settingthe skeins in relaxed and kinked state, and then stretching the skeinsin a single, smooth, continuous stroke.

8. A process for producing kinked synthetic carpet yarn comprising thesteps of twisting synthetic fiber yarn, skeining the twisted yarn toreduce the tension thereon and permit kinking, shaking the skein tofacilitate further relaxation and kinking of the yarn, tumbling theskeins to complete relaxation of the yarn, heat setting the skeins in arelaxed and kinked state by alternate application of vacuum and pressuresteam to make the kinks permanent, and then stretching the heat setskeins.

9. A process as defined in claim 3, wherein the skeins are maintained inopen, stretched condition while winding the skeined yarn onto saidbobbins.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,515,556 Dreaper Nov. 11, 192.4 2,240,554 Dreyfus May 6, 1941 2,509,347Jackson May 30, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OFCORRECTION Patent No; 2,995 802 August 15 1961 Clyde W. Brown et al. I

It is hereby certified that error appears in the above numbered patentrequiring correction and that the said Letters Patent should read ascorrected below.

Column 5, line 22 for "second" read minii te Signed and sealed this 27thday of March 1962.,

( SEAL) Attest:

ERNEST W. SWIDER 7 DAVID L. LADD Attesting Officer Commissioner of Fate:

